Serving the Community: Jeffery Gore, Georgetown County Fire/EMS

By A. M. Sheehanasheehan@southstrandnews.com

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

A.M. Sheehan/South Strand News Jeffery Gore

Lt. Jeffery Gore, 37, grew up and still lives in Conway. After high school he started earning his degree through Horry Georgetown Technical College with a goal of ultimately earning a degree in math and teaching certification.

In the meantime, he volunteered with the Horry County Fire Department.

“No one in my family is in fire service,” chuckles Gore, “but after volunteering, I pretty much loved it.”

He says he went to a volunteers meeting and ran two calls that night. “I was hooked!”

He continued with Horry County as a volunteer, worked for a few private ambulance services and, in 1999, went to paramedic school.

He got his first full time firefighter’s job in ’99 with Georgetown County and he’s been here ever since.

A Lt./Paramedic, he rides ambulance or engine and is in charge of the station on his shift. When the battalion chief is out of the station, he is in charge – of all the stations and of a fire scene.

He is a team leader for the technical rescue team, certified in HazMat, rope rescue and confined space amongst other things.

He is currently working on a fire science degree through Horry Georgetown Tech which will open up the career ladder to him.

Any calls with children, he says, are the very worst. “Anything that could have been helped…like they didn’t have their seatbelt on, or DUI crashes…things that never should have happened.”

His best experiences are “anytime someone walks out of the hospital after a cardiac arrest or brings us cookies or I see them on the street and they tell me their family member is home.”

His professional goal is to someday make chief. “My next step is full time battalion chief.”

“I’d like to stay here [Georgetown County Fire/EMS] but might have to follow the career ladder to another department.”

The full time father of two boys – Bryson, 13 and Bradley, 9 – he is getting married, he says. His girl, Vicki, works at Blackwater Middle School in Conway.

Gore says he enjoys playing golf and playing sports with his kids. “I golf with Bradley – he’s played since he was 4!”

“And Bryson has played basketball since he was 5!” Gore says Bryson plays travel ball.

Gore plays church league softball and enjoys pretty much any sport.

He enjoys watching TV and his favorite show is Chicago Fire which he says is pretty close to reality.

He loves “anything Clemson.”

He enjoys spending his off time with family and friends. He loves cooking and is “very good at it.”

“I love picking up a recipe – like Rachael Ray – to see if it turns out the way it looks.”

He gets his recipes online or in cooking magazines. He cooks at the firehouse and they love his grilling.

He loves traveling – by car, hates airplanes – and “going places I have never been before.”

“My dream vacation is Hawaii.”

He enjoys hunting and freshwater fishing and enjoys cooking his catch.

“My 9-year-old is a little red neck. He has his own gun and two fishing poles and he guts and cleans his fish and can skin a deer.”

“We’re going to try bow hunting this year. We love deer hunting. Bradley’s favorite show is Duck Dynasty,” he laughs.

He enjoys spending time with his dad. “He’s a hero to me…he taught me everything I know…I love going hunting and fishing with him and Brad.”

“My mom is the glue…she taught me how to be a Christian, know right from wrong…I was raised right and I am trying to instill that in my kids.”

He and Vicki enjoy dinner and a movie, watching TV together, taking the kids to the water park, the beach and four-wheeling [ATV].

“She’s different from anyone I have ever met…she treats me so well and I try to do the same…we do little things that keep everything fresh…she’ll do everything I like to do even if she doesn’t really want to.”

They split the shores, he says, and he simply likes to be with her. “She is down to earth and fun to be with.”

His life goal, he says, is for his kids to be successful, happily married and great parents and to know that “Vicki and I and my parents had a hand in that and were a great influence on them.”

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